


Limelight

by VoidWhereProhibited (Kattywompus)



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Conventions, Dan might be kinda into exhibitionism okay, Dubcon Kissing, F/M, First Time, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Polygrumps, Rough Kissing, Sick Character, some background Suzy/Mark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 08:10:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11077521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kattywompus/pseuds/VoidWhereProhibited
Summary: Dan can't seem to keep his hands off of Arin during panels. This wouldn't be a problem if Arin didn't have feelings for the man.





	Limelight

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this a year and a half ago, before the live shows were such a big thing. That might have worked better. Whoops! But I just wanted to finish it, so just... pretend it takes place in 2015, I guess!

Arin was nervous about con season.

Convention season was a rough time in general. Even at the top of their game, time management was a balancing act for the Game Grumps; most of them thrived on walking the fine line between explosive productivity and certain destruction. In a lot of ways, it was just part of being an artist. 

Conventions tended to throw a wrench into all of that. They required time commitments and pre-planning - which all of the Grumps and Grump Cousins had been forced to master after they'd exploded in popularity - but it's not like scheduling and queueing content ahead of time is what any of them really wanted to do with their time. Not to mention the travel, the cramped spaces for multiple days with people you had to work with in the future, the sleep deprivation, and, of course, the post-con exhaustion, which could knock you out for days even if you hadn't managed to catch whatever variety of Con Plague was going around.

Funnily enough, none of this was what Arin was anxious about.

What was getting under his skin - making him antsy, tapping his fingers and bouncing his legs, getting in the way of getting any packing done - was Daniel Avidan.

Specifically, Dan during panels.

Dan was a humble guy. He was humble when Arin reached out to him via Youtube to compliment his band. He was humble when Arin asked him to join Game Grumps as Not So Grump. And he was humble even in the face of millions of subscribers, hundreds of thousands of whom watched him daily.

But something switched on when Dan got to a convention.

It's not like he'd get a big head or anything, but the guy was a musician: a born performer. He lived for the limelight. And once he found himself in it, as he frequently did at panels in conventions, he could get a little... wild.

He was, after all, Danny freaking Sexbang.

Arin sighed. He leaned back on his bed, giving up on packing for the moment, and considered what he might be in for this weekend. He was especially dreading the Game Grumps panel.

Panels were particularly hard, because about 90% of the questions were the same thing they'd heard over and over again, which Danny and Arin (and anybody else) had to figure out how to make interesting. The other 10% were even worse: really interesting, good questions that they had no idea how to answer right away. In the end, Q&As tended to be great improv practice more than anything else, and Arin always came out of them totally drained.

But, like improv, crazy things could happen - and with Dan on stage, anything usually did.

It had started out pretty tame. On stage, Dan and Arin would "flirt" much like they did on Game Grumps. It came naturally to the two of them. They had amazing chemistry. It was part of what made the show work, and they did it all the time. However, while on stage, the fans could see it, a fact that changed the dynamic in surprising ways.

The Lovelies ate it up. Laughing, cheering, even screaming. The reactions prompted escalation by the two men, natural entertainers drawn to please their fans. Coy looks and vague jokes gave way to physical flirting: light touches of the hands and fingers, shoulders brushing, bodies leaning against each other. The petting of hair and caressing of faces.

It happened gradually, over the years, but eventually it just became a part of the routine. And for a long time, Dan had always waited for prompting; as far as Arin knew, Dan needed fan encouragement before goofing around physically like that. He assumed this was a generational thing. He was much more sensitive to being perceived as gay than Arin. Arin wasn't about to judge him for it, but he did notice; Dan didn't joke about wanting it up the butt the way Arin did.

Which was why it came as such as surprise when Dan started initiating the behavior on stage.

The bedroom door opened, snapping Arin out of his thoughts. He turned his head to see his wife walk into the room, carrying a pile of freshly folded laundry.

"Aren't you packed yet?" she asked, glaring at him jokingly.

Arin shrugged by way of reply. They were silent for a minute while Suzy began putting the newly washed clothes into her suitcase. Finally, Arin sat up and leaned forward, watching his wife intently.

"Yes?" she said, suppressing a smile. She watched him out of the corner of her eye.

"I'm just... thinking about the con."

"Oh."

Silence for a moment.

"Any reason why?"

"Not really," Arin lied. He opened his mouth to continue, then snapped it shut, second guessing himself.

"Okay." His wife continued to pile different folded pants into the suitcase. When Arin didn't say anything else, she asked, "Is it about Dan?"

Arin looked away and ran his hand through his hair. Leave it to Suzy to nail it on the first try.

"Yeah."

For the first time, Suzy stopped packing up various t-shirts and looked at Arin. All hints of a smile had left her face, and she was watching him with concern. Looking for something.  After a second, she sat down next to him on the side of the bed and met his eyes.

"Is it about the last panel you guys did?"

The last panel. It had been months ago, but Arin still fresh in his mind. Still raw.

It was a big panel: a bunch of Youtube guys answering a million questions for an hour. It had gone extremely well for the first thirty minutes - unique questions, great panelist chemistry, hilarious jokes - until Dan had decided to put his head on Arin's shoulder.

For the whole panel.

There was no reason for it. He wasn't answering a question with silliness to get the fans excited. Neither of them was even being addressed when it happened. He'd just leaned over and rested his head on Arin's shoulder, where it stayed for an entire half hour. Even when answering questions, Dan refused to budge, forcing the sound guys to furiously adjust his volume. When Arin asked what he was doing, he'd responded, "Cuddling my Big Cat!"

Thinking about Suzy's question, Arin shrugged. His heart raced just to think about it.

"I guess. The panel was weird, but that's not all. It's about... a lot of things."

Arin could feel his voice threatening to crack, and he took a deep breath to steady himself. When he looked back at his wife, she was smiling at him.

"I know it's hard," she said. She reached out a hand and touched his knee. "Having feelings for someone--"

Arin shook his head, cutting her off.

"We've talked about this enough," he interrupted. "I'm done with that."  He felt a pang of guilt as he watched the smile melt from her face.

"I know you're just trying to help," he added. "And I love you for that. But I'm tired of listing all the reasons it's never going to happen."

"But Arin--"

"No, Suzy. I know you think-- look, you're the best. And you see the best in people. In me, and in him. But if he's not interested in dudes... well, there's nothing I can do about that."

Suzy let out a little sigh, and nodded.

"I just want you to be happy," she said, after a minute.

"I know, babe." Arin smiled. He leaned into his wife's beautiful face. "I love you."

"I love you--" she managed, before Arin's lips met with hers. He pulled her into him. He held her lips with his own, refusing to release the kiss until she ripped herself away.

"Now, now," she whispered, bringing her lips to his ear. "We have to finish packing."

And she was right. But even as she spoke, her breath brushed against his ear, and he shuddered, overcome with the sensation. She knew exactly what buttons to press, and she didn't intend to stop any more than he did.

"Oh yeah?" he countered.

"Yeah."

Arin didn't finish packing that day.

 

* * *

 

 

It was six thousand degrees on stage, and Arin's water bottle was bordering dangerously on empty. He took a small sip and wiped his forehead. He couldn't believe how hot it was.

"The weirdest thing to happen during filming?" Arin repeated. The man in the audience who had asked the question nodded, but Arin was already thinking about it. What WAS the weirdest thing that happened during filming?  Whenever he was asked about specific events, suddenly everything flew out of his head, as if he didn't have a million hilarious answers.

He knew he could come up with something great. If only it wasn't so hot up on stage.

"Well, it was only weird the first time... but I'd say fucking. 

Danny's voice rang out over the speakers in the hall as the man jumped in and answered the question. Arin's eyes shot up to meet Dan's, which were sparkling with mischief as he leaned forward into his mic. 

"I mean," Dan continued as the crowd laughed appreciatively, "you got two guys, a dark room, some lube... Actually, now that I think about it, it probably wasn't weird at all. Only natural we'd bone eventually."

Arin's face broke into a smile as he joined in. His shoulder brushed against Dan's and he suppressed the urge to leave it there.

"Oh, yeah," he agreed. "I mean, it wasn't weird for me, since I was the one who seduced you."

He grinned out at the crowd as a number of people cheered, before turning back and catching Dan's eyes.

"Is that what happened?" Dan said. "I always assumed I was the one who seduced you. After all, you're always talking about how bad you want me."

Arin only had a couple of seconds to try and work out what Dan was saying before the man was leaning in toward him. The crowd was cheering, but Arin barely noticed, because suddenly Dan was right there on top of him, just an inch away. For a moment, he thought Dan might be trying to kiss him, but at the last minute, Dan reached out his hand and lightly stroked Arin's cheek.

Arin was frozen. He had the presence of mind to know he was sitting in front of a room full of people, but little else. For a second, he found himself wishing this had happened anywhere else so that he could have enjoyed it properly; of course, he knew it never would have happened anywhere else. Dan only did it for the fans.

Finally, he thawed. By the time he was able to respond, enough time had passed that any reaction at all would have killed. Arin chuckled playfully, as though the touch had meant nothing to him, and his initial shock had been an act. Dan grinned at him and pulled himself back into his chair to speak into the mic.

"See? What did I tell you? I know exactly how to seduce you."

Dan turned and beamed at Arin with a look that the younger man just couldn't place. Was he... proud?

Of what, exactly? Making people laugh? Getting a reaction out of him?

Arin was so busy staring at Dan and trying to work out what had just happened that he forgot to come up with a response to the original question. This turned out to be fine, because the crowd refused to stop cheering for a good thirty seconds or so while he collected himself. By the time he'd shaken himself out of it, Dan was already answering the question seriously, telling the story of the time the Grump Space lost power, and they'd all sat around playing board games.

For the next fifteen minutes, Arin sat back in his chair and tried to observe the panel. He resisted the urge to glance at his Apple Watch to see how much time was left. He didn't want to look like he wasn't enjoying himself - he always enjoyed himself at panels - but he was seriously starting to sweat, and he was almost totally out of water.

"You okay, Arin?" Dan asked from beside him. "You're sweating."

Arin started to nod discretely, so as not to bring any attention to himself on stage, when he realized that Dan had asked the question while leaned into the mic in front of him, effectively broadcasting the conversation to the entire hall.

"It's crazy hot up here," he said with a smile. He took the opportunity to wipe his forehead, which was as practical as it was theatrical. "I blame Markiplier."

He glanced for a moment at Mark, who was on the complete opposite end of the long table they shared. The man gave him a thumbs up as the crowd laughed.

"Sorry, man. I can't help that I'm so hot," Mark said. Someone in the audience shouted a proposal, which made him laugh.

"Have some water, dude," Dan suggested.

"Fresh out," Arin replied, holding up his water bottle for the crowd to see. To emphasize his point, he unscrewed the cap and chugged the rest of it, then held it upside down.

"Well, how can we fix that? We don't want you to be uncomfortable," Danny said.

Arin cringed, bracing himself for whatever Dan was about to say next.

"No, I guess not," he conceded hesitantly.

"I think I know what might cool him off," Mark chimed in, from across the stage.

"What's that, Mark?" Dan sounded like a game show host. Like he knew the answer. Except this time, they weren't Playing the Feud - they were playing with Arin. 

"Why don't you give him some of YOUR water, Dan?"

"That's a great idea, Mark!" Dan said.

Arin made a mental note to remember this the next time he saw Mark. Fucker.

As Arin was attempting to glare at Markiplier from across the table, Dan was pulling out his own bottle of water. It was still mostly full: apparently, Dan wasn't nearly as hot as Arin was. He could just make out the beads of condensation collecting on the outside of the bottle.

Arin reached out for it instinctively, but Dan pulled it back and began to unscrew the cap, and Arin realized it wouldn't be that easy.

"Open your mouth," Dan said, just as Arin was working it out. Dan held the bottle aloft, dangling it dangerously over Arin's head. Teasing him.

"Dan--"

"Go on, Arin. Open wide."

Arin felt his heart skip a beat as the words registered, and his mouth opened automatically. He was only partially aware of how embarrassing the whole situation was. To his right, one of the panelists was cracking up, and plenty of people had their phones out.

"More," Dan said. He was half laughing. "You have to tilt your head back."

It happened all at once: Dan reached forward with his left hand and gripped Arin's chin, pushing his head back gently. Arin jolted forward immediately as something like electricity jumped through his body at the touch. Dan, surprised, dropped the bottle of water, which spilled out all over everything; the table, the chairs, the floor... but mostly Arin.

"Shit!" Arin yelped, jumping out of his seat.

"Oh ffff--- I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, man, let me--" Dan sputtered. He followed Arin out of his chair, and began reaching around as though he was going to pat him down before realizing he had nothing to pat him down with. "Oh, man, I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine, it's... it's fine," Arin said. He felt his anger subside almost immediately. He ran his hand through his hair, sighed. "I could use a towel, though."

The audience laughed appreciatively. From the stage, Arin could see that the con volunteers were clamoring around, desperately trying to find what they needed.

"Great, Dan," Arin said, stalling a bit for time. "Now you got me all wet. Again."

Dan looked up. Once he'd figured out he couldn't help, he'd just stood there pitifully. When he met Arin's eyes, he still looked upset, but after a moment, he shook the puppy dog eyes and joined in.

"Gosh, Arin. I'm sorry. I keep doing that."

Laughter. Some cheers.

"No big deal, bro. Just sucks I'm gonna be in this cold, wet shirt until the end of the panel."

As Dan opened his mouth to respond, someone in the crowd shouted, "Then take it off!"

Dan raised his eyes to meet Arin's, and he broke out into a grin. He arched his eyebrows suggestively.

"Yeah, Arin. Take it off."

And the crowd erupted.

* * *

The rest of the panel was chaos. Arin was certainly **_not_ ** going to take his shirt off - he had spent weeks psyching himself up to do it for the Grump calendar, and they had planned that - but they still couldn't shake the crowd. They were totally out of control. Every question after that was like something out of a frat party.

"At least the water cooled me off," Arin told Suzy when he met her in the hallway.

Suzy put her hand over her mouth, barely able to contain her laughter.

"It wasn't _that_ hot up there, man," Dan said, joining the two of them.

"Are you insane? It totally was," Arin countered, before the rest of the panel piled out into the hallway. "I was practically soaked before the water bottle incident."

"You coming to the vendor's hall, Arin?" Holly asked.

He shook his head.

"I gotta change my shirt," he said. He cracked a smile as everyone started to laugh. Secretly, Arin was glad he had an excuse to duck out. That whole panel had been exhausting, and he needed to wind down.

"I'll join you!" Dan said quickly. Arin looked at him, surprised, then shrugged.

"Come on, then. "

Suzy gave Arin a quick peck on the cheek before joining Holly.

"You get that all taken care of, okay baby?" she whispered in his ear. Her eyes lingered over his wet shirt before she ripped them away.

Arin and Dan walked through the convention hall in relative silence. Like all conventions, it was noisy and crowded, and they had access to back halls to avoid bottlenecking any hallways. Still, they had to cross through crowded areas sometimes, and when they did, they had to keep their heads down and their mouths shut.

The silence ended almost the minute they entered the room.

"Arin, dude, I'm so sorry," Dan said immediately.

Arin hadn't even turned around yet. He closed the door, slid the lock into place, and turned to look at his friend.

For the first time since the panel, Dan didn't have that showy grin plastered on his face. Instead, it was replaced by those soulful eyes - the ones the Lovelies went nuts for, and drove Arin crazy. He looked totally sincere.

 ** _This_ ** was why Arin hated panels.

He brought his hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Are you? Sorry?" he asked, finally, somewhat exasperated.

Danny just stared at him, his mouth slightly open. Arin wanted to close it for him. He tried not to think of how exactly he would accomplish that.

It was obvious Dan had expected Arin to just accept his apology. Because normally, he would.

But, normally, Dan wouldn't do something that actually pissed Arin off. Dan wasn't Jon; he didn't do things to get under Arin's skin without realizing it. Usually, Dan apologized for things that hadn't even registered. Hadn't pinged on Arin's radar.  

The script they followed usually went something like:

_"I'm sorry, man,"_

_"It's cool,"_

_"Yeah?"_

_"Yeah."_

Not this time.

After Dan finally wrapped his head around what Arin had said, he squinted at him. He brought his hand up and started playing with his hair. This was probably a nervous thing, Arin thought.

"Yeah, I mean it," he said, tilting his head a little. His hair fell around his neck. Arin had to look away; it was too hot in here for this.

So he turned around and faced the window.

"Well then... I mean... I dunno, man," Arin said, over his shoulder. "Maybe next time don't act like an idiot when we're on stage."

There was silence for a minute, and Arin contemplated turning back around. To see how it had landed. To survey the damage. It dragged out forever.

Then, Dan's voice:

"Oh."

And:

"I act like an idiot on stage?"

Arin shrugged. He couldn't seem to find his voice.

Silence again. And then:

"I don't mean to."

Dan's voice was soft. Arin could feel something in him breaking, and he turned back around.

He still couldn't meet the man's eyes. Dan's face had softened and crumpled. He looked visibly shaken by Arin's criticism. Arin felt something like guilt pull at his heart before he stomped it back down.

"Yeah, well..." Arin sighed.  "Look, when we're on stage, you always, like..."

He sighed again. This was hard.

"You flirt with me, okay? Like, a lot. You get weird and you start touching me and making these jokes, and..."

Dan's head snapped up, and he stared at Arin blankly.

"I thought you liked that kind of stuff," he said, sincerely. "You're always making jokes about it when we're recording and stuff."

"Yeah," Arin countered, "but I don't fucking pour water into your mouth like it's Girls Gone Wild or some shit. I don't tell you to take your fucking shirt off."

"Girls Gone Wild?" Dan said, barely holding back a smile.

"You know what I mean."

"Well, to be fair, I'm almost positive you _have_ told me to take my shirt off while we were recording," Dan said, his eyes sparkling. He thought this was a joke. Arin felt like punching him.

Or something like that. Punching, but without fists. Punching with mouths.

Arin clenched his fists, his feelings rocking like waves inside of him.

"I don't tell you to do it in front of hundreds of fucking people, all of whom, by the way, you knew would encourage it! You knew I'd be uncomfortable with it, you knew--"

"Whoa, whoa, hey!" Danny interrupted, his voice raised for the first time. "I did NOT know you were uncomfortable with it. I would not have said it if I thought for one second it would make you uncomfortable. Honest."

Arin stared at him.

"Fine," he said, after a moment, pulling his eyes away. Once he was tired of staring at Dan.

He hadn't thought he could ever be tired of staring at Dan, but it seemed like this whole thing was taking its toll.

"Look," Dan said. His voice was softer now. Gentle. "I didn't know you felt that way. But you're right. I get in the spotlight and I become..."

"...a diva?"

Dan grinned.

"Yeah, I guess. I was going to say 'showy.' But I'm really sorry. And I'll fix it, I promise. I never would have done it if I thought it made you uncomfortable. I didn't know you didn't like it. But now I do! I won't mess up like that again."

Arin nodded slowly.

That was probably the best way to handle it. After all, what good would it do to tell Dan why it really bothered him?

"So, are we good?" Dan asked. There was an edge of nervousness to his voice.

"Yeah," Arin replied. "Mostly. But I gotta find the thermostat for this room - it's burning up in here."

* * *

 

"Baby, you're burning up."

Arin groaned as Suzy's fingers brushed against his forehead.

"I can't be sick," he protested. "I have the Grump panel today. It's going to have a huge turnout."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. A billion people."

"That many, huh? Well," Suzy said, pulling her hand back, "they'll just have to do it without you."

"Do the Game Grumps panel without Grump? That's crazy talk."

"It might be crazy talk if you're someone who wants to feel crappy and stay sick, but for those of us who like being well, we call it 'normal sick person behavior.'"

"Thanks for the vocabulary lesson," Arin replied, starting to smile.

"I'm serious, Arin." She looked it. "You were sweating like crazy on stage yesterday, and you were up all night. You barely got any sleep."

Arin just shook his head. "I can't skip it, Suze," he said, meeting her eyes. After a second, she nodded.

A few minutes later, she was returning from the hotel store with a pack of Dayquil and a large bottled water. Arin took the medicine diligently, silently thankful that his wife was so understanding.

"This is Dan's fault," he said after another minute, staring at the water bottle.

"What?" Suzy asked, incredulous. She was leaning up against Arin in the hotel bed, playing a  game on her phone. "How is it Dan's fault?"

"Because he spilled water on me yesterday," Arin said.

"I don't think the water made you sick."

"Maybe not..." Arin said, thoughtfully.

"But I don't think his little stunt yesterday helped, either," Suzy continued, swiping her phone's screen to complete some puzzle.

"Stunt?" Arin asked with a little laugh.

"You know, pouring water on you, telling you to take your shirt off..."

Arin just stared at his wife, blankly.

"I'm just saying, you were already having trouble with your feelings for him before we got here. Then he goes and does something like that... I just know how hard that must have been for you, is all."

Arin nodded slowly.

His feelings had been hard. Not so much realizing he had them for a man - this wasn't his first gay rodeo - or even that he had them for Dan, so much; Arin had struggled with the fact that, for the first time in his life, he had feelings for someone incapable of having them back.

It's not like he was some stud. If anything, it was the opposite. He was incredibly selective. But that also usually meant that he didn't just give his feelings out for free. He usually knew how someone else felt about him before it got this far.

"But we talked about it," Arin said after a minute, once he realized Suzy wanted him to respond properly. "He said he wouldn't do it again."

"Did you tell him why?"

Arin rolled his eyes.

"No," he said. "And you know it. He just thinks it makes me uncomfortable."

"Well, I still think you should. I don't think..." Suzy sighed, and put down her phone. "He's just more likely to actually listen to you if he knows why it bothers you so much."

Arin felt his gut clench, and he tried to ignore it.

"Easy for you to say," Arin joked. "Your unrequited love story had a happy ending. How is Mark, anyway? Did you two have fun after I came back to the room yesterday?"

He didn't have to look to know that his wife was blushing.

"Not the point," she pouted.

"I know," Arin conceded. He leaned against her, pushing his weight against her shoulder. She pushed back with equal force. The weight of it was comforting, and he soon found himself closing his eyes, resting his head on Suzy's shoulder.

"Wake me up for the panel," he said before finally passing out.

* * *

 

Suzy woke him up thirty minutes before the panel. He had memories of her trying to get him up before that, but his sickness coupled with sleep deprivation had made it practically impossible 

He got there last. All of the other Grumps were already getting pumped up for the panel. Barry, Ross, and Holly were huddled around a bench, talking about something. Dan was standing off by himself, arms crossed, looking lost in thought.

Arin allowed himself two seconds to stare at Dan while everyone was busy. He couldn't do it on stage, when everyone was looking. Usually, while recording, he could watch Dan as much as he wanted; the older man didn't seem to notice, so Arin had his fill.

And Dan was something to behold. Every inch of his body was attractive. Arin just couldn't stand it sometimes, the way even Dan's elbows drove him crazy, the way he sometimes thought about just reaching out and kissing Dan's bony-ass wrists. Arin would sometimes lie awake at night, thinking about things about Dan that had no right to be sexy. 

And today was no exception. The man's shoulders and knees, his hips, the way his slender hands rested over his crossed arms. Arin was briefly overcome by the bizarre desire to kiss up Dan's forearm, like a gay Gomez Addams. 

Luckily, this line of thought was cut short by Danny glancing up and seeing Arin watching him. He raised his hand in greeting, and walked over to him.

"Hey man," he said. His voice was energetic but soft. Arin could tell just from the way Dan's eyes were twinkling that he was psyched about the panel.

"Suzy sent me a text. You're not feeling great, huh?" Dan continued.

Arin nodded.

"I can field most of the Game Grumps questions, if you want," Dan offered. "You don't have to worry about it."

"Thanks," Arin said.

"Yeah, man, no problem," Dan replied, a smile breaking out across his face. He put his hand out and clapped Arin bracingly on the shoulder. For a moment, Arin thought Dan was going to hug him, and his heart threatened to burst out of his chest.

Instead, Dan just lightly patted his shoulder - comfortingly - and locked eyes with him for a couple of seconds, an action that did nothing to calm Arin's racing heartrate. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Dan broke eye contact, and they headed to the door of the hall.

The panel started without incident. Arin was feeling chipper and upbeat, the Dayquil doing its job. Mostly. The only problem was the temperature of the stage, which was, if possible, even hotter than the day before. Arin started sweating almost immediately. Today, though, he took no issue with finishing off his water bottle quickly and requesting a new one from a con volunteer.

The calm didn't last long. The crowd was rowdy. A number of them had probably been at the last panel, and it seemed that word of Arin and Dan's shenanigans had spread. Almost immediately, someone took the mic and asked Dan for a drink of his water.

"Uh," Dan stammered, glancing at Arin. It was clear he was thinking about their conversation the day before.

"I wouldn't," Ross broke in. "I'm sure Danny's got con AIDS."

The crowd laughed appreciatively. The man holding the mic smirked.

"Isn't he worried about giving it to Arin?" he asked. A couple people clapped.

"Already got it, bro," Arin croaked into the mic. The room "aww'd" at him appropriately; it seemed they had no problem believing it. He probably looked like death, and his voice cracking as he answered had helped.

That calmed them down for a bit, but after Danny and Ross shared a long story about starting Steam Train, the crowd started to get antsy again.

So did Dan.

Arin had noticed the man's leg bouncing to his right, and when he quickly examined his face, he was beaming. The crowd had loved his abuse of Ross - as usual - and he was feeding on the audience's energy. Arin brushed it aside, writing it off as stage anxiety.

Until someone told Arin they hoped he'd get better. 

"Con Flu is terrible. Don't spread it around, okay?"

Arin wasn't sure what to say at first, so, good to his word, Dan stepped in to save the day.

"Oh, well, oh no..." he said with a cheeky grin. His eyes sparkled as he glanced at Arin, who only raised his eyebrows in response.

"I guess we might be in trouble then, Arin," Danny finished, smiling at the person who asked the question.

"It's very contagious," Arin added, gamely.

The girl who had wished him well laughed, then passed the mic to the con volunteer. The next person in line stepped forward and took it. He was wearing a Goopy Grumps t-shirt.

"I was going to ask something else, but... well, I don't know, you guys have so much chemistry on stage, and..."

Arin and Dan exchanged a look. Dan was beaming sheepishly, and Arin felt his lips curl into a smile.

"Now I'm not sure if I should ask it," Goopy Grumps continued.

"Is this some... what's it called," Dan asked, looking at Arin with a thoughtful expression. "That thing with us in a relationship?"

"Egobang? Or, uh... Polygrumps," Arin said.

"Yeah, that." Dan laughed for a moment before continuing. "Is it about that?"

The guy with the mic covered his face with one hand and nodded, then realized he needed to speak into the mic.

"Yes."

The crowd started laughing, and Barry said, "Do it!" Then the rest of the room joined in, chanting "Ask it, ask it!" The asker blushed, pushing his dark hair out of his eyes.

"Um..." he started, and the room started to quiet down. "For everyone. Have any of you ever kissed?"

The room erupted. The guy holding the mic flushed, and rushed to explain himself.

"I mean, I know-- I know how weird that is, just, I thought maybe? And if not, have any of you ever like... thought about it?"

It was almost impossible to hear him over the sound of the crowd. They were losing it. And Arin could feel his stomach drop, and he wasn't sure if that was the crowd or being sick or the look on Danny's face as he wrapped his arm around Arin. And he wanted to pull away, tell him to stop, but Dan felt so good against him, and Arin was practically shaking. Or maybe it was his fever, because he really _was_ shaking.

"I've kissed Arin," Barry said from across the table, matter-of-factly. There was a short round of mixed laughter and applause.

"So have I. Obviously," Suzy said with a giggle.

"And I've thought about it," Ross added, to cheers from the audience. "Kissing Arin. And Dan, too. They're hot."

Arin felt his heart rate jump as the crowd quieted down enough for Dan to respond. He pulled his body away from Arin's and leaned into the microphone, slowly.

"Well," he said in a low voice. "What do you think?"

A chill danced down Arin's spine. Suddenly he was gripped by something in his gut. He didn't wait for the crowd to go quiet before responding.

"I don't know, Dan," he said. He could feel his voice edging on aggression, but he couldn't help it. His heart was racing, pounding in his ears, and his hands were trembling on the table. "Have you ever thought about it?"

"Um, well," Dan said, faltering. Arin could see the uncertainty in his eyes. Joking was one thing, performing and pretending for a laugh, but this was something else. Arin's direct question had shocked him for some reason.

"I mean, we're together all the time, right? In a dark room, on a couch, just an arm's length away from each other," Arin pressed.

"Uh--"

"And you're always touching me, hugging me, putting your arm around me," Arin continued. He looked pointedly at Dan's hand, still hanging loosely over his shoulder. The younger man felt it stiffen for a moment as Dan quickly moved to pull it away, realizing what he had done.

Arin barely processed it. His head was swimming. The heat and the noise and the questions, they'd all gotten to him. And Dan putting his arm around him, getting so close, so intimate, being so fucking touchy feely on stage when Arin had just asked him yesterday to stop...

"So?" he rasped, breathless. "Have you ever thought about it?"

When he turned to look at Dan again, he was speechless. He looked like he'd been struck by a train. His eyes were wide and guilty. Arin caught a glimpse of his fist clenching at his side.

"Maybe," Dan said. He ran his hand through his hair - that nervous tic again, thought Arin - and threw his head back. "Haven't you?"

Arin wasn't even sure the mic had picked that up. If it had picked any of it up. The sound from the crowd and the blood pounding in his ears was deafening, and it was all he could do to sit up in his chair without collapsing. The room was spinning.

So he leaned toward Dan for support and nodded, opening his mouth to say something.

And Dan - tall, lanky, diva Dan - glanced out at the screaming crowd. Then back at Arin.

And then he leaned in, filling the space between them with his lips. And that was the last thing Arin remembered before blacking out.

* * *

 

It was dark when Arin woke up.

The sun had almost totally set; just the barest sliver of light illuminated the cityscape, filling his hotel room with a pinkish-grey glow. Everything was foreign and strange, casting long shadows around the unfamiliar room.

The sheets under him were cold and wet, soaked through with sweat. His hands were clammy, his mouth dry, his throat scratchy and sore. He put these things together slowly in his mind, a Rubix cube of clues 

"Did I pass out?" he asked the room.

He didn't expect anyone to respond. He thought he was alone. Which was why it was so surprising when Dan's voice spoke from a chair in a shadowy corner of the room.

"You weren't unconscious, but we practically had to carry you back here," he said. His voice was quiet. "I'm not surprised you don't remember."

Arin sat up straight, startled into alertness by the sound of Dan's voice.

"I guess I'm kind of sick," he said hoarsely. It was supposed to be a joke, but his voice had fled, and it came out like a whisper.

"Suzy wanted to take you to an emergency room if you didn't wake up to drink some water soon," Dan replied. Arin saw his figure rise from the chair in the corner and shuffle over, hunched and slow.

"Speaking of," Dan said, reaching for a plastic cup on one of the room's desks. "Have some now."

Arin just nodded and sat there on the bed, looking at his hands as Dan unwrapped the cup, pulled ice out of a bucket in the mini fridge, and poured bottled water into it.

"Where is she, anyway? Suzy."

"She and Holly found some Asian restaurant that does takeout Pho and sushi and stuff. They're bringing it back soon."

Dan's back was still turned towards Arin while he answered. Once he was finished, Dan stepped into the light for the first time to hand the water to Arin.

He looked terrible, Arin thought, reaching out and taking it. The man's hair was wild and flyaway, his shoulders hunched, his eyes red and drooping. When Arin took the cup, Dan turned around immediately, refusing to meet the younger man's eyes.

As Arin sipped the water, he thought about the panel. Tried to see through the blur. As he shook the sleep from his mind, he remembered more... and more...

And suddenly, like a shot, the whole thing came rushing back. He almost spit out his water.

Once he finished sputtering, he found his voice.

"How did the panel--"

"I don't know," Dan said quickly. His voice was quiet, but Arin's was so weak that it didn't take much to interrupt him. "Ross and Barry stayed. Holly filled in, I think. So did Brian. I heard they were going to try and find Vernon..."

Dan shrugged, cutting himself off.

He stood in front of the window, where the sun had now almost totally set. The sky was a deep blue, and the orange-yellow lights of the city in front of them twinkled to life one by one. He cut an impressive figure, Arin thought; his lanky silhouette was carved out exactly for this kind of moodiness.

When he turned back to Arin, his face was in shadow. Arin couldn't see his eyes. But when he spoke, his voice trembled.

"Arin. I'm sorry."

Arin sat up. To argue, or blame him, or ask why - even though he knew why. What he did. That fucking spotlight and that fucking crowd. But before he could say anything, Dan had collapsed, landing at the foot of the bed in front of him. Arin wanted to reach out, to put his hand on his shoulder or brush his hair away from his face.

Instead, he just said, "It's fine."

Dan didn't say anything. He was hunched over at the end of the bed. After a while, Arin was beginning to think he had been too quiet, that Dan hadn't heard him.

"It's fine," he repeated.

When Danny spoke, however, Arin heard why Dan had been so silent. He had been crying.

"But it's not fine, Arin. It's not fine at all."

* * *

 

Arin and Dan had sat in silence for another ten minutes before Suzy had come in to save the day with asian fusion. Arin was so grateful when his wife walked in with a takeout bag and a giant smile, turning on the lights and chiding the boys for sitting in the dark 

"You'd think you two were the goth ones," she said, grinning at them.

I'm not goth, Arin thought. Just pining like a teenager over a stupid boy.

A stupid, cute, boy. Idiot.

The words echoed in his head. "It's not fine." Arin hadn't known what to say to that. Or what to do. He couldn't even ask what Dan meant, because something big and heavy had lodged itself in his throat, and he couldn't tell if it was emotion or Con Plague or something else. Like fear.

So they had sat there. In the dark.

And when Suzy showed up, Dan grabbed his order (sushi, natch) and bolted. If Suzy noticed he'd been crying, she didn't say anything. She'd just handed Arin his Hot and Sour Soup and asked him how he was feeling.

After, she'd made him take the Nyquil she'd picked up, and they watched stupid videos on Youtube while they waited for it to kick in.

"Tomorrow is the last day of the con," she said, once they'd turned everything off. They were laying the the dark on their giant king sized bed, facing each other. Even with so much room on the bed, they lay close to one another, their legs tangled, hands clasped.

"I know," Arin said sleepily. He could barely keep his eyes open.

"I already asked Holly, and she said Ross could cover her booth while she closed up Psychic Circle for me. Then I could move our flight, and we could leave tomorrow."

Arin made a protesting noise, kind of a pitiful whine.

"It'd be fine--" Suzy started.

"No," Arin croaked, shaking his head as vehemently as he could. God, he was tired. "No, you're doing really well. And I don't want to put Holly out."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I'm probably going to feel like shit tomorrow, too. There's no way I'm getting on a plane like this."

Suzy pulled her hand away from his and reached up to stroke his hair. He closed his eyes, the feeling of his wife's hand in his hair calming him immediately.

"Well, if you're really going to be that sick, I'll come check up on you from time to time," she said softly.

"Don't. Psychic Circle needs you."

His eyes were closed, so Arin couldn't see it, but he was sure she was trying not to laugh at his melodrama. His favorite thing about their relationship was the way they never failed to make each other laugh. He didn't even have to see her to know when she was smiling.

"Okaaaay," she relented, finally letting out a little laugh. "But I'll be sending minions."

"Fine," Arin said breathily. He was finally losing consciousness, the Nyquil taking hold at last. "Give me babysitters. I love babysitters."

Suzy laughed again, but it sounded so far away. He had to focus to hear it.

"What if I send Dan?" she asked.

"I love Dan, too."

* * *

 

The last day of the con was grey and wet. The rain was coming down in sheets outside, and it was so dark that Arin didn't even have to close the blinds to sleep. The sound of rain, constant but quiet, lulled him into a kind of hypnosis. The day came and went in a haze of rain and sleep 

It might actually have been nice, if he hadn't been so sick. His fever continued to rise and fall throughout the day as his medicine wore off before he took more. He would wake up, burning, sweating through his clothes, and throw off the blanket, whimpering. Once, he felt a cold, wet washcloth on his face and he practically gasped with relief.

Hours later, he woke up freezing, pulling all of the blankets around him as he curled into a ball. A few minutes later, he felt the heavy weight of a second blanket placed on top of him. The cold melted away into a soft warmth, and he quickly fell asleep again.

Mid-afternoon, Arin woke up for real for the first time in almost a day: his fever had broken, and he was lucid. He sat up, waiting for the rest of it - to feel so sick that he couldn't help but roll over and go back to sleep. But nothing happened.

There were no lights on in the room. The only illumination came from grey, rainy skies outside, casting the room in long, faded shadows. Not dark, but still. Quiet. As though all the color had been slowly drained from the room. Arin took a deep breath as he looked out the large windows, into the clouded sky and smiled.

There was a bottle of Dayquil next to the bed, which didn't draw his attention. He'd been taking it all day. However, the fresh bottle of water was somewhat surprising. And the plate of fresh fruit on the table across the room was also new.

After a minute, he threw his legs over the side of the bed. For the first time all day, Arin stood up, his legs wobbly at first from lack of use. He almost tripped over his pajama top on the floor, which he must have stripped off in the middle of the night when he was covered in sweat. Barefoot and shirtless, he stepped gingerly toward the bathroom. He desperately needed a shower.

But when he tried to open the door, it stopped short, where it had banged up against something.

Someone.

_Dan._

"Shit, Big Cat," Dan said, his voice unnaturally high. His back was to the door, and he was standing up quickly from where he had been sitting. Alone. In the dark. In the bathroom. "I didn't know you were awake."

"Uh," Arin said, his voice cracking. His lips were chapped and his throat was dry. He swallowed once, then tried again. "I... I didn't know you were in there."

"Yeah, no shit," Dan said, his back still to the doorway. The light from the cracked door filtered into the pitch black bathroom, only half lighting Dan's dark figure. "That explains why you slammed that door up against me."

"I'm sorry," Arin said, realizing he hadn't yet.

He was still waking up, and his brain was still foggy. But the more he came to, the more he remembered; what happened at the panel. What happened after. He stared at Dan in the dark, standing standing there silently. Saying nothing.

"Are you feeling--" Dan started to say, but before he could get anything else out, he was forced back as the door swung forward some more. He turned around quickly, his eyes meeting Arin's for the first time, and as the light flooded in, they shined in the darkness.

Arin pushed through the doorway and into the bathroom before Dan could protest. Then, once he had cleared the door, he slammed it shut and leaned back against it, shutting them both into the darkness.

"Arin, what the hell are you doing?"

He could feel Dan lean forward to try and find the door, and then tense when he realized that Arin was right on top of it. His shoulder brushed against Arin's and then pulled back quickly.

Arin, for his part, had no idea what he was doing. He was running on instinct. Like his brain was a few steps behind everything else. Like it was working slowly in the background, piecing something together.

Which was why it surprised him so much when he answered.

"I'm getting you out of the damn limelight. Maybe you can behave yourself in the dark."

He heard Dan breathe in, a sharp intake of breath like he'd just been punched, and Arin thought about how he'd felt like punching the man just a couple of days before. How unreasonable that seemed now, in the dark with Dan, who seemed so small.

"I don't know..." Dan started. But he stopped. He didn't seem to know how to finish the sentence.

"You tried to kiss me," Arin said. His voice was just above a whisper. It was the only way he could keep himself from shouting it. Even now, he had to keep his voice from shaking. "On stage. After you said that you'd stop."

"I'm sorry," Dan said. His voice was even lower. The softest plea. After a moment, he seemed to find the words he was looking for. "I... I know it's not fine. Last night, you said it was, but... I don't know how it could be. It... I don't know how you could forgive me."

"You tried to kiss me," Arin repeated. Louder this time.

"I... did."

"Dan, you tried to fucking kiss me!" His throat was worn and tired from being sick, so he wasn't yelling, but even so, Arin could practically feel Dan flinch away from him at the volume of his voice.

"You did this... fucking huge thing, alright? You can't just apologize and say it's unforgivable and then try and sweep it under the rug! You can't just say it was the crowds, the stage, the lights. You can't try to kiss me under the spotlight and then hide away in the dark like it's going to fix everything."

He inhaled, catching his breath after yelling so much. He was almost lightheaded; he still wasn't fully recovered yet, and this was a lot of emotion to be dealing with. After he lowered his heart rate and took a couple more deep breaths, satisfied he wasn't going to pass out, he was able to turn his attention back to Dan.

Dan was almost totally silent, and but for the occasional ragged breath, Arin might have thought he had disappeared entirely.

Finally, Dan spoke.

"I hate this," Dan said. For the first time, he didn't sound sad. He sounded almost irreverent. As though he was about to burst out laughing at any moment.

"What?" Arin asked, sharply.

"This situation. What happened. Myself, a little, I think."

"Because you tried to kiss me? You hate yourself for that?" Arin's voice was like ice. He was glad that it was dark and he didn't have to see Dan's face when he heard it. He'd never been so angry with him before.

"I..."

"What?"

"I don't know!" Dan yelled, breaking the blanket of quiet that laid over their conversation. "I guess? For trying to kiss you. For wanting to."

His voice broke, but he continued, pushing the words out like it took all his strength.

"For doing it even when you told me not to. For being so obsessed with what the crowd would want, what the fans would want, that I never thought about what you would want."

And Arin snapped.

Because that was it, wasn't it? What Arin wanted.

Dan only thought it was safe to kiss Arin because he didn't know that it was what Arin wanted more than anything. And Arin knew that. He could have stopped it if he had just told Dan how much he liked it. How he didn't mind the touches and the jokes and even the fucking kiss; that what he really hated was that after the show, it was all going away again. And that was killing him 

What he wanted was Danny on stage, but all the time.

And telling Dan all of that? Well, that was also the one thing that would stop it forever, and the irony in that pushed Arin over the edge.

Arin couldn't take it anymore. He jerked forward, grabbing the collar of Dan's shirt, and shoved him against the wall.

"What the fuck do you know about what I want?" he growled.

"I don't-" Dan started.

But before he could finish, Arin was pressing his lips against Dan's.

It wasn't a kiss, really. It was a struggle of mouths: Arin's, strong and demanding, pressing roughly against Dan's, shocked and resistant. As Dan came to his senses and tried to pull away, Arin just pressed harder. Fighting.

But then, Dan pushed back. He opened his mouth and kissed back and started pawing at Arin, reaching for something he could grab - but there was nothing, Arin had no shirt on, and all he could find was skin and hair, and suddenly, he was scratching and pulling. Arin gasped as Dan's fingernails made contact with his skin and he momentarily pulled away from Dan's mouth.

He stared into the dark in front of him, trying to make out Dan's features. His expression.

Then, Dan started laughing.

Arin couldn't take it. He grabbed the older man's hair with one hand and his face with the other and he leaned back in, violently pressing himself against Dan's mouth. Dan started to struggle, biting at Arin's lips. Angrily, Arin shoved him back as far as he could, until they were in the corner. There, Dan whimpered, gasping something into Arin's mouth, and collapsed, bringing Arin to the ground with him. Only then did Arin finally relent and pull his mouth away.

"Fuck you," Arin whispered as he pulled Dan to his knees, tears stinging his eyes. "All I ever wanted was you."

And all of the sudden, Dan stopped struggling. Pressed tightly against the corner of the dark bathroom, he went still.

Arin let go. He felt shame wash over him as he released Dan, the tears falling freely now. He took a breath, and it was sharp and staggered.

"I'm sorry--" he tried to say, but his voice was weak, and he was interrupted by Dan's voice, barely a whisper, saying something he couldn't quite hear.

"What did you say?" Arin asked.

"I love you," Dan said. His voice was trembling.

Arin felt everything go cloudy as he lost himself in a rush of emotion. He wasn't prepared to hear Dan say those words. His heart was suddenly racing, his mind running at a mile a minute. It felt as though the entire Earth had slowed its rotation. He looked at Dan - what little he could see in the pitch black - and couldn't find anything to say.

"I'm fucking in love with you, Arin," Dan whispered. His voice was just breath. Arin could blow it away with a sigh. "I just didn't know it until... until last night. I just thought it was... I don't know. Curiosity? Just for fun? Just something to do in front of the crowd."

Arin nodded, unable to speak. When he realized that Dan couldn't see him, he reached out and found the man's hand and squeezed it. He was nervous that Dan would pull away, but was happily surprised when Dan squeezed back.

"It scares the shit out of me," Dan said. Arin's touch seemed to have bolstered him somehow. "I just wanted it to go away. I tried so hard to ignore it. But after yesterday... I couldn't control myself." Dan went silent for a moment, and then let out a shaky breath. He sounded like he was on the edge of tears,

"When we were up there, at the panel... I thought you wanted me to kiss you. I guess I hoped you did. I mean... you looked like you did. You kept pushing--"

"I was egging you on," Arin said. He was surprised by how normal his voice sounded. Like he was talking about the weather. "Daring you to do it."

"Why?"

Dan sounded almost hurt, as though Arin had lied to him.

And maybe he had. He certainly hadn't told Dan the truth about everything.

"Because..."

So, fuck it. He'd already kissed him. No point hiding anything now.

"Because I wanted you to."

Silence for a moment. The seconds ticked away the years as Arin waited for Danny's response.

"Why?" Dan asked again, finally. This time, his voice was stronger. More serious. Maybe angry.

"I don't know! Because I fucking wanted to kiss you, okay?"

Arin could hear Dan's head hit the wall as he leaned against it.

"I don't get it," Dan said. "You wanted to kiss me?"

"Yeah."

"Then... wait. Then why did you ask me to stop touching you on stage?"

And Arin started laughing. Some dam burst inside of him and everything came crashing through: being sick, and anxious and angry and wanting so badly just to stop talking and kiss Dan again... Suddenly this all struck him as the funniest thing that had ever happened to him, and he started laughing and couldn't stop.

"What's so funny?" Dan asked after a minute. He sounded somewhat exasperated, but Arin could hear the smile forming in his voice.

"Honestly, dude?" Arin answered as he struggled to breathe. "I don't fucking know."

"Arin," Dan said, pulling his hand back,"I'm serious. You... kissed me. You wanted me to kiss you. Are you telling me that you feel the same way about me?"

Arin nodded, too overcome by giggles to properly answer. Finally, he managed to choke out, "Yep."

"And you told me to stop flirting with you and stuff on stage anyway?"

"That's right."

"And you made me freak out that I'd wrecked our friendship by trying to kiss you - which you were _trying to get me to do_ \- for... what? For no reason?"

Finally, Arin managed to calm down enough to answer Dan seriously. The man sounded so nervous, so frustrated. Arin scooted a little closer to him on the floor.

"Not no reason," he said. He was practically whispering, his voice almost completely gone now. "I couldn't handle it. I thought it was just a joke to you. And it... it fucking hurt."

Arin realized that he was on the verge of crying again, and he took a minute to collect himself. Finally, he was able to continue.

"I just wanted it to stop. So I told you to quit. I didn't know how you felt about me, or I never would have..." He trailed off, suddenly feeling like it was a pretty weak excuse for lying to his best friend.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"No," Dan said, after a pause. "Stop. You don't need to do that. I didn't exactly advertise it." He sighed, sounding kind of defeated. "I was... I _am..._ terrified of it."

As he spoke, Dan reached out his hand and placed it on Arin's leg. Arin could feel it trembling against him, and, automatically, he took it.

"You don't have to be," Arin said, gripping tightly with both hands. "I mean, if you wanted, we could... fuck, now I'm shaking too."

Arin took Dan's hand and placed it on his chest where Dan could feel his heart fluttering. All he could hear was the sound of Dan's breathing, fast and shallow.

"We could do this," Arin whispered.

"How? What about Suzy?" Dan asked. "I'm not going to--"

"Shit, dude, Suzy's been trying to get me to tell you for ages. She'll throw a big old I-Told-You-So Party when we tell her."

"Really?" Dan's voice cracked. Arin didn't think he'd ever heard him this happy. He couldn't tell if the man was about to laugh or cry. Possibly both.

"Really," Arin said, croaking out a laugh. "Now let's get out of this damn bathroom. This floor is killing my knees."

* * *

 

It was dark by the time Suzy made her way back to the room from the Vendor's Hall 

She sighed as she swiped the card to her room. She hadn't expected it to take so long to take down her booth. Luckily, she had sent Dan up to take care of Arin around noon, so even though she was trying to get back as soon as possible, she knew she didn't need to worry all that much.

When she walked into their suite, all the lights were off. She was just about to turn one on when she saw a figure lying in bed, and decided against it. If Arin was asleep, she didn't want to wake him.

She quickly glanced around the room, but there was no sign of Dan. Maybe he was getting food?

The pieces started clicking into place as she walked toward the foot of the bed. From the light of the moon streaming in through the windows, Suzy could see she had been wrong before. Arin wasn't alone. There were two figures in the bed, tangled together. She couldn't help herself as she broke into a grin at the sight of her husband wrapped around Danny, their breathing slow and even as they slept.

"You go, babe," she whispered under her breath. Then she turned around, phone in hand, to text Mark. She'd need a place to sleep tonight, and her boyfriend, luckily, was still in town.

_"Hey cutie! done tearing down the booth. are you busy? I need a place to stay tonight :("_

He answered almost immediately.

_"Of course. But don't you have to take care of your husband? Or are you worried you're going to get sick too? Haha!"_

_"I think that's Dan's problem right now XD"_

Before she left, Suzy left a note with to the bottles of Dayquil and Nyquil she'd bought for Arin, and placed them all on the nightstand next to Dan. Then she kissed her husband good night and left.

* * *

 

When Dan woke up the next morning, his head was foggy and his throat scratchy. Luckily, he found some medicine right next to him, along with a note. He turned the light above the nightstand on so he could read it. 

_Hey boys! You guys looked so peaceful I didn't want to wake you. I'm in Mark's room. I left the Dayquil just in case. (I have a feeling you might be needing it, Danny!) We can all talk later. For now, take all the rest you need! Get well soon!_

_xo Suzy_

As Dan finished reading, Arin was stirring next to him.

"What do you have there?" he asked, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Dan held out the note for him to read. Once he finished, Arin turned to Dan.

"Oh, damn. My Con Plague. I didn't even think about that," he said. "So, how _are_ you feeling?"

"Like shit," Dan admitted.

"Well, then we should listen to Suzy. Get our rest. I guess we'll just have to stay in bed all day," Arin said, a mischievous smile creeping over his face.

"Oh yeah?" Danny said, feeling himself smile back involuntarily.

"Yeah," Arin said, plucking the note out of Danny's hands and leaning in toward him. "Now turn off that light."

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, let me know if you spot any misspellings, grammatical errors, or if you liked it! The encouragement really keeps me going, guys. Thanks for reading!


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